What’s the most practical cryptocurrency?

So I haven’t used any crypto since 2020ish, most of my investments were into BTC because it was the most popular. The one thing I always hated about Bitcoin was the mining fee, every time I transferred to one of my other wallets, or to someone else’s wallet, I would lose about 5% of the transferred funds as a mining fee, apparently one BTC transaction uses as much electricity as 250,000 Visa card transactions so it kinda makes sense why the transactions aren’t free.

When i started reading BTC for other cryptos as an investment strategy, the loss of funds became a lot smaller, I was buying NEOcoin and Ripple mainly as they were gaining a lot of value. But the problem with those 2 is they don’t have much use outside of the trading space. In recent years I’ve noticed some online shops accept Monero and sometimes eToro, making it almost (or maybe more) useful as BTC?

As someone who’s been out of the crypto game for a while I was wondering if the mining fees on BTC have gotten any better, or god forbid, worse? And which cryptos if any are as practical as BTC was a few years ago?

Reply 1

thevegman

I feel you need to get clear on what you are wanting out of cryptocurrency. For example, I am not personally in it for the investment, cryptocurrency for me is all about having a way of transacting outside of the system.

What you refer to as "mining fees", I would say are more commonly referred to as transaction fees, although I guess those fees do go to miners. Bitcoin still has unique attributes that make it the #1 cryptocurrency and an unmatched store of value. But you are right that on-chain Bitcoin is not suited for day-to-day use. Small payment solutions include Layer 2 solutions which are built on top of the Bitcoin base layer, such as Lightning Network. However, I personally am looking at the NIMIQ cryptocurrency, which is a third generation blockchain, as a better solution for small payments. Nimiq Pay Android/iOS app is supposed to be arriving in the app stores in the next couple of weeks. If you are interested, I could post again on here when the app launches.

I hope this helps! I feel the thing is to research more and buy less, only get into something once you have found a lot of evidence pointing in the same direction.

Reply 2

rolandka

Original post by ZestyJoe

So I haven’t used any crypto since 2020ish, most of my investments were into BTC because it was the most popular. The one thing I always hated about Bitcoin was the mining fee, every time I transferred to one of my other wallets, or to someone else’s wallet, I would lose about 5% of the transferred funds as a mining fee, apparently one BTC transaction uses as much electricity as 250,000 Visa card transactions so it kinda makes sense why the transactions aren’t free.
When i started reading BTC for other cryptos as an investment strategy, the loss of funds became a lot smaller, I was buying NEOcoin and Ripple mainly as they were gaining a lot of value. But the problem with those 2 is they don’t have much use outside of the trading space. In recent years I’ve noticed some online shops accept Monero and sometimes eToro, making it almost (or maybe more) useful as BTC?
As someone who’s been out of the crypto game for a while I was wondering if the mining fees on BTC have gotten any better, or god forbid, worse? And which cryptos if any are as practical as BTC was a few years ago?

The Lightning Network has been a game-changer for handling smaller transactions as mentioned above.

When we talk about practicality, I think Ethereum and its ERC-20 tokens are big players. They're not limited to just trading, they play a significant role in the DeFi arena, offering services like loans, borrowings, and decentralised exchanges

Stablecoins are handy for transferring value, since they don't have the same volatility as other cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin provides quicker transaction approval times with less fees. Plus, it's commonly used for payments.

Honestly, there are so many of them out there, it's tedious to keep track of them.

Reply 3

thevegman

Original post by rolandka

The Lightning Network has been a game-changer for handling smaller transactions as mentioned above.
When we talk about practicality, I think Ethereum and its ERC-20 tokens are big players. They're not limited to just trading, they play a significant role in the DeFi arena, offering services like loans, borrowings, and decentralised exchanges
Stablecoins are handy for transferring value, since they don't have the same volatility as other cryptocurrencies.
Litecoin provides quicker transaction approval times with less fees. Plus, it's commonly used for payments.
Honestly, there are so many of them out there, it's tedious to keep track of them.

Thanks, this feels like a good down-to-earth summary. I guess you can eventually home in on the handful of cryptos that meet your needs and forget the rest?

Reply 4

rolandka

Original post by thevegman

Thanks, this feels like a good down-to-earth summary. I guess you can eventually home in on the handful of cryptos that meet your needs and forget the rest?

Pretty much. I'd only look at the newest cryptos if you have high risk tolerance and yeah, they might fly but most don't, it's like gambling. Although, I say this but in general the volatility is over the roof with this. Established cryptocurrencies are more promising.